Of Wanting And Needing
by Quantumphysica
Summary: Tom Riddle wants to gain power and instill fear, but most of all he wants to get out of his own diary. When it falls into the hands of Luna Lovegood, he believes to have caught a perfectly naive victim for his plans... Yet Luna is far from naive, and Tom learns the hard way that what he wants isn't necessarily what he needs. (Planned 4-shot)
1. Chapter 1

"Oh no…"

"What's wrong?"

"I'm having potions now and I can't find my book!" Luna looked wide-eyed at her red-haired friend. "I may have forgotten it at home…"

Ginny smiled and dug up her own potions book from her bag.

"Use mine, I don't mind. We never have potions together anyway, we can use the same book until you get your own back."

Luna hugged her friend.

"Thank you Ginny, you're such a nice friend! I'm really glad we met."

"I know right!" Ginny grinned. "And yeah, I'm glad too. I thought I was going to be all alone here, at mercy of my annoying brothers… I kinda still am, but…"

"It's always good to have a friend."

"Exactly."

Luna left for potions with Ginny's book under her arm. She could feel something inside the book, something unusual. It made her feel a bit like wackspurts were buzzing next to her ear. In class she found that another, thin book was stuck in the potions book. The moment she touched it, the unusual feeling became ten times as bad. Luna softly, carefully stroked the unknown book. It had an aura, slowly pulsating, almost like a heartbeat… Luna dared say it was alive! Her father had devoted an article to living books once; they were rare creatures that only showed their secrets to the most persistent of scholars, they loved to hide in libraries. Luna whispered to the book, so soft that no one could hear it.

"I will care for you… you wandered far from your library, didn't you?"

X

He could feel it… the touch, the energy… Buried as he had been for so long, he lapped up the sensation of someone touching him like a starving animal. He imagined the feeling of a quill scratching the pages of the diary again, power dripping into him again word by word… That short touch had already revived him, awakened him and with him his undying purpose. His protective casing may have been old and worn, but he was still young, just waiting to be released…

X

Luna took a deep breath, and wrote down her name in the living book.

"I am Luna Lovegood."

_"My name is Tom Riddle. Nice to meet you."_

Luna squeaked in delight. It was true! It was a living book and it deemed her worthy to talk to!

"Nice to meet you too. I have never met a living book before!"

_"I am not really alive. I am just a memory…"_

Luna shook her head.

"I know you are alive. I can feel it."

_"How?"_

"You have an aura. All living things have an aura, it means they have a soul."

_"Interesting theory, Luna… Do you mind if I call you Luna?"_

"Not at all. Can I call you Tom?"

_"Please do so… I have been alone for so long, it would be nice to have someone call my name again. Would you like to tell me something about yourself? Or perhaps where I am now, and in which year? I have been without company for so long that I have lost track of time."_

Luna lovingly stroked the diary. Poor Tom, he must be so lonely!

"I'm at Hogwarts, and it is 1992. What would you like me to tell you about?"

_"Oh, everything. I'm a good listener, even though I'm just a book."_

X

It worked! So easily misled, those young girls… This one even saw that he was no mere memory, and yet she didn't hesitate to pour herself into him word by word! Tom –as soon as he had introduced himself, the sense of identity had returned to him- couldn't help but smirk. It was too easy really. There was something though, a nagging feeling of discomfort on the edge of his mind, but he ignored it. It was probably just the Horcrux variety of muscle cramp, caused by fifty years of gathering dust somewhere.

X

Luna returned Ginny's potions book, but she kept the "Living Book" named Tom for herself. After all, how could she be sure that Ginny would talk as devotedly to him as she did? Tom had been alone for far too long, he needed plenty of conversation. She could see that there were a lot of dark colours in his aura, meaning that he was somehow fundamentally… unhappy. Luna hoped that she might be able to distract him from his dark inner thoughts if she could just tell him enough happy, sweet things.

"Hi Tom, how are you today?"

_"I am doing as usual, not much changes around here. I am more interested in you, Luna. Please tell me more about yourself. I think you are fascinating."_

Luna giggled at the compliment and drew a smiley face in the diary.

"Aww, Tom! That's nice of you to say. If only the Nargles would tell me such sweet things I wouldn't keep them away!"

_"What are Nargles?"_

X

The nagging feeling had become worse over time. Tom felt himself grow stronger every day the Lovegood girl talked to him, and yet… there was something, slipping through his fingers like sand. The moment he thought that, an image appeared in his mind, a time turner, an hourglass, he didn't know. Golden rings twisted ferociously around a glass vial full of black sand that slowly but steadily travelled upwards. It unsettled Tom greatly… after all, Horcruxes didn't have visions, Horcruxes didn't dream. He couldn't explain where the image had come from, and anything he couldn't explain was potentially dangerous. He would have to watch out with what he told the Lovegood girl, urge her to give him more of her memories, more of her strength. He was almost powerful enough to infiltrate her mind, and then he could finally fulfil his purpose. Tom concentrated on that, calming himself with thoughts of the triumph that soon would be his...

X

Luna had taken to caring for Tom. She often shook her head at the diary, wondering how such a smart young man-well, Living Book- could know so much and yet so little. She had to spell everything out for him! It was easy to see that he longed to talk to her, talk to anyone probably, that was why he always made their conversations lengthier than necessary. Luna stroked the book lovingly. He was just scared she wouldn't talk to him again, the poor thing... And that just wouldn't do!

She told him about her parents and life in Hogwarts, but most of all about the stories from the Quibbler. She told him about the man who flew to the moon on a Cleansweep 6 and brought back the first Moon Frogs anyone had ever seen, about the hunt for the Crumple-Horned Snorkack that supposedly lived in Sweden, and even about the Blibbering Humdinger that was truly a peaceful creature although it sometimes attacked people in yellow coats because it believed them to be bananas. As he always asked plenty of questions, Luna believed dear Tom really enjoyed their talk…

X

He couldn't concentrate. That was the problem; he couldn't concentrate anymore. The bizarre visions that had started with the unnatural hourglass thingy now came almost every hour. It were incomprehensible images of wrestling men with heads protruding from their backsides but many pairs of strong arms growing out of their front, dancing people with colourful wings around a pole with a rotting human head on it, and eyes, trees from which eyes grew like leaves that did nothing but stare at him. Tom wandered lost in the visions; unable to concentrate until the now familiar scratching of a quill would call him back to reality. As soon as he heard Luna Lovegood's happy voice again, Tom gathered all his resolve. He had to do it now, because otherwise… he didn't want to think about an otherwise.

X

The writing on the wall felt oddly familiar to Luna, as if she had seen it somewhere before. She didn't have the chance to study it in depth though, as the teachers ushered everyone away, worried looks on their faces. She decided to tell Tom about it.

"Dear Tom. Something odd has happened. The Chamber of Secrets has been opened, apparently."

_"Has it? Oh dear… Good thing then that you are a pureblood, no harm will come to you."_

"Oh, I don't worry. I think it's fascinating. Did you know my father believes that the Chamber holds a very rare creature, an unknown species that may have been discovered by Salazar Slytherin himself but never made public?"

_"That's… interesting."_

"I think so too! I would love to go in that Chamber once and meet the creature, do you think it would eat me?"

_"I honestly don't know."_

"You're very quiet, Tom. Are you ill? Your aura doesn't look good; it's fluctuating like you are fighting with something inside. You don't have Murgling Booklice chomping at your pages, do you?"

_"Not… that I know of."_

"Booklice are very dangerous to Living Books, according to my dad. You should be very careful and tell me immediately if you get them!"

_"I will."_

"Now, tell me what is bothering you."

X

"Now, tell me what is bothering you."

Tom wanted to lie, but his little excursion into Luna's mind had exhausted him. He just couldn't muster the strength to think up a good lie, no mater how uncharacteristic that was to him. It was almost as if being in the girl's mind was… toxic to him, in some way. He hadn't felt this bad since… since he had been separated from the main soul, actually.

_"I feel sick."_

"Poor dear."

He could feel her; he could feel her hands stroking the pages. Stroking them! He wanted her to stop, he wanted her words but not her… her touches. They had been pleasing at first, but now… He didn't understand them, and all he didn't understand was dangerous.

"Tell me what you are feeling exactly. Perhaps I can help?"

_"I see things, confusing things. I don't understand them."_

"Maybe you are a seer, you may be experiencing visions of the future. They can be really terrifying. Do you remember what you see?"

_"Sometimes. It hurts."_

Tom didn't want to write that, but he barely had any control. He had only just kept himself from letting more slip. How scared he was, by example. Horcruxes didn't get scared. Horcruxes never got sick and they certainly never had visions of the future. Horcruxes had a purpose, and that was all they cared about. In the enclosed mental space of the diary, Tom felt as if there was a weight on his chest. He was lying down, concentrating on breathing. He didn't even have to breathe; he wasn't even alive! The sheer idiocy of it all made him want to hurl…

"Sssh… It's okay to be scared."

He didn't understand the girl. The girl was dangerous. The girl had to go.

X

Luna was worried about Tom. He was giving off strange vibes, and had been doing so for a couple of days already. Not to mention that his aura looked miserable. She had checked the diary for Murgling Booklice and even wrapped it in her butterbeer cork necklace so that the Nargles wouldn't bother him, but nothing seemed to help. Eventually she decided to write the poem to him that her mother always used to tell her when she was little.

"Dear Tom. I thought this might cheer you up. My mother used to read this to me and it always made me laugh. Hope it will make you feel a little better!"

The worm can turn;

Haven't you heard?

When you think upon it

It seems absurd.

Worms can turn near,

Worms can turn far,

It really depends

On where they are!.

Worms are turning

Everywhere.

One might be turning

In your hair!

Worms in an apple

Find turning hell:

'Cause apples are hard,

They can't turn very well!

X

The girl's sing-songy voice resounded through Tom's mind as she wrote that poem, word for word. It was powerful, every word was full of strength and magic… but it was also full of something else, something that made Tom sick in his stomach and brought up visions of worms with thousands of eyes, twisting and turning through his body. If he had possessed a physical body he would have been scratching and crawling at himself trying to get them out, that real it felt. He let out a pitiful whimper, for no one but himself to hear. He had the strength now, he had to finish the girl. Tom didn't care anymore that he would be stuck in the chamber after she died, that his purpose would be lost… No. He needed her to die, before she killed him. It seemed so unlikely, that a naïve eleven-year-old girl would succeed in destroying a horcrux, but Tom's fuddled mind made him think she could. The visions, the pain, the fear… maybe it had been her plan all along! He had to get rid of her, and fast

X

Luna woke up in unfamiliar surroundings. Her head felt strange, and the place she was felt even stranger. It looked like it was underwater, with algae everywhere and big puddles of water. In awe she stared at the sculptures that decorated the place. Snakes everywhere… this had to be… The Chamber of Secrets! Luna felt her heart jump up in glee. Tom must have brought her here! So thoughtful of him, since she had told him how much she wanted to see the Chamber!

"How are you awake?"

She turned, and saw a young man. He had a handsome face, but his eyes were wide and full of emotions Luna couldn't place right away. His aura however, she would recognize everywhere.

"Tom!"

She threw herself at him in a bone-crushing hug, which was not exactly what Tom had been expecting. He hadn't been expecting to turn corporeal in the first place; he had just wanted to kill the Lovegood girl by means of Basilisk. Yet as soon as he had reached the Chamber, the girl had fainted and he had found himself there, extracted from her body, finally a bit corporeal again. It had been a stroke of luck, but now he doubted how lucky exactly… He pushed her away.

"You should not be alive anymore! I'm eating your soul! How can you even be awake?!"

Luna sent him a sad smile and stroked over the diary she was still holding, sending a shiver through Tom's body.

"Oh dear Tom, you sound very ill… But I can see a lot of wackspurts around you; you are probably just very confused by them. Maybe you should lie down for a bit. It was really nice of you to bring me here, but I think you've exhausted yourself."

"No, this… this can't be…"

Tom muttered to himself. He could feel how his mind was succumbing to the bizarre visions again that were caused by the girl… she had control over him, and she just sat there, gloating, mocking him with that bizarre smile of hers, her bulging eyes piercing his skull! He bit his teeth, gathered all his willpower and yelled the commands for the Basilisk to appear. As soon as the great serpent would kill the girl he would be free of her… Perhaps she could just petrify the girl so that he could continue to suck power fro her…

X

Nothing of the sorts happened. Tom spaced out from time to time, which made his report on the events hard to follow, most of all to himself… but somehow he realized that the basilisk wasn't killing the Lovegood girl. He had ordered the basilisk to kill the girl and she didn't! Why didn't she? He didn't understand. He was just completely overwhelmed by a sense of not-understanding. When he felt the scribble of her quill on his pages again, he didn't know what to do anymore, succumbing to the images she planted in his mind. He had lost…

X

"Tom is ill. I've been trying to heal him, but he's a very difficult patient."

Luna explained to the enormous serpent, which appeared to nod in agreement. Luna smiled at it. Her father had always taught her that you came a long way with being friendly to creatures, and it appeared he was right once again. The snake hissed a lot at Luna, and most of it she didn't understand, but some things she did. Luna suspected it was because of Tom; he had gotten so attached to her that she could do certain things he could do too, just not as good. Both she and the basilisk looked at Tom, who sat on the floor of the Chamber, his robes getting wet and his eyes all wide while he muttered things neither Luna nor the serpent understood.

"Do you understand any of that?"

The snake gave a negative sounding hiss.

"I thought so. I wish I could get a healer or something, but I don't really dare to leave him alone, you know. He's not exactly in his right mind now and I would hate for him to hurt himself."

At this, the snake hissed something that Luna interpreted as "enthusiastic because possible solution". She looked at the serpent, which always kept its eyes close when looking in her direction.

"Do you know how to get help?"

Again, an affirmative hiss.

"Oh, great! That would be really sweet of you!"

Luna watched the snake slither into a tunnel, and then turned back to Tom.

"Don't worry dear, she'll get someone who can help you."

Tom only stared at her in horror, as if she was the most atrocious monster he had ever laid eyes upon.

X

She knew. She KNEW! That was why she was doing that, writing those short phrases of sickly sweet words in his pages, letting her hand run over the his worn cover, she KNEW what it did to him, how sick it was making him! Tom's mind was a true mess, and every bit of resolve he had left had since long deserted him. His Purpose was nothing but a vague echo in a mind filled with incomprehensible images. He wanted it to stop. He just really wanted it to stop so that he could sleep. He wouldn't mind the pain at first, he knew it would hurt, but then it would be quiet and he would finally no longer be. The thoughts tumbled through his head, uncoordinated. He just wished she would leave him alone. She had to leave him alone. He couldn't take any more. This torture was the most inventive he had ever experienced and it successfully did what nothing else had been able to do… it made Tom Marvolo Riddle want to give up.

**(Author's Notes)**

**This is a gift fic for TheSillyKitten and Agnes Riemann. They inspired me and practically force-fed me this plotbunny, so now they get to suffer the consequences! *insert evil laughter***

**Serious now, I hope you enjoy this story. As I said in the description, it's part of a three- or four-shot, depending on how I divide the text I've typed. **

**Luna isn't my fav character, but she had a certain charm to her... I imagine that her strange, seer-ish mind is a bit much for poor Tom to take... not to mention that Luna cares unconditionally, and she has that bizarre naivety over her. Tom is used to petty emotions, he just hasn't ever experienced someone really caring for him... it's sort of wrecking his thought patterns, as you can see. Also, as a horcrux he's slightly allergic to anything love-related. **

**Also, Luna makes friends with the basilisk although she's not a parselmouth. It would be just the thing for her to do, since she's so fascinated with magical creatures. I just take it that the basilisk understands English, but can't speak it. Artistic liberty, anyone? **

**Credits for the worm poem are unknown, if anyone knows where it comes from feel free to let me know, I like to credit the right people.**

**PLEASE REVIEW! I love reviews, and I tend to return the favor when it comes to them! All sorts are welcome, critics and compliments alike! **


	2. Chapter 2

They say it's a bad thing when you're hearing voices no one else can hear, even in the wizarding world. Harry Potter had heard the voice quite a few times now since the opening of the Chamber, and he had always ignored it. But that was because most of the time it didn't really talk to him; he just heard it. This time however…

"Ssssspeaker, I know you are there… Lissssten, I have a message, urgent, lisssten!"

Harry couldn't help but feel it was meant for him.

"Lissssten, the girl that ssssmells of radisssshesss and sssunshine asssks for your help! My masssster hasss fallen ill, ssssshe can't leave him… You musssst come!"

It was complete nonsense, but still Harry asked Ron about it.

"Do you happen to know someone who smells of radishes?"

Ron, who had been in the middle of an exciting quidditch story, looked quite disturbed at his friend.

"Harry, are you okay?"

"No, I mean, yes, of course. I just wondered if you knew someone who smells of radishes. And sunshine, perhaps. Just a random thought."

Ron shrugged, not quite sure about what to answer.

"Weird. Radishes make me think of that crazy Ravenclaw chick though. You know, Loony Lovegood with her crazy earrings, the one that got abducted by the monster."

Harry stopped dead. Of course.

"Sssspeaker, will you lissssten now? I have repeated mysssself a dozen timesss already! You need to go to the girlssss bathroom and Sssspeak the door to open!"

"Harry? Do… Do you want me to get someone?"

"No, I'm fine, just... need to use the toilet."

With that, Harry Potter ran away, leaving his friend baffled. It could be a trap of some sort, but the "monster", if that had been it, had sounded quite genuinely worried about her master, whoever that may be. And apparently Luna had something to do with it too. Harry knew he should alert the teachers, but… well, who would believe him? He was more likely to get thrown into St Mungo's if he told anyone. No, he would have to solve this on his own.

He let the hissing voice in the walls direct him to the correct bathroom, and there he looked around for some sort of door.

"Okay. Open Sesame?"

"You mussssst Sssspeak to it!"

With the emphasis on 'Speak' apparently… and that made the coin drop for Harry.

"Of course!" He looked for some kind of snake symbol on the walls, and when he didn't find one he just imagined a snake and hissed in parseltongue.

"Open."

Surprisingly enough the washbasins started to move. From somewhere under the floor he could hear the hissing voice.

"At lassssst, the Sssspeaker underssstands!"

Harry carefully went in, slipped and went down what apparently was some kind of slide. Whoever invented that had a quirky sense of humour, Harry thought while he slid down. When he eventually landed on his butt, he looked around and saw… the old skin of a snake that had to be truly humongous. Harry slicked. This better not be a trap… He clenched his wand and wished he had brought Ron for moral support. Eventually, he reached a large room, where said humongous snake was resting lazily on her coils while a blonde girl was struggling for something with a young man.

"Tom, you are not well, you can't have that!"

"Give me, you wretched woman! Let me end this! LET ME END THIS!"

Harry's eyes widened when he recognized Luna.

"Luna?"

"Harry!"

In her surprise, she let go of the item she had been struggling for, and the man grabbed it and held it close.

"I WILL END THIS! You won't control me an longer!"

Luna turned to Harry.

"Please Harry, he is sick, he can't have that diary now. Please help?"

Harry was dumbstruck. The man struck him as slightly familiar, if not for the crazed look in his eyes.

"Don't listen to her! S-she will poison your mind, like she did to me! Please destroy it! Destroy this thing, burn it with the biting fire, let HER eat it, the traitor, she chose the side of that woman, please! Please end me!"

Harry didn't know what to think. Eventually, he decided to go with Luna's stance, after all she was the only one he knew in this fight.

"You truly don't sound too sound of mind. _Stupefy._"

The spell hit the man, and he dropped limply to the floor, the item he was holding –a book- slipping from his grasp. Harry picked it up.

"Err… Luna? Care to explain all this before the initial shock runs out and I start screaming?"

So Luna explained, and Harry listened. From time to time the huge snake (apparently a basilisk) added to the conversation, little snippets that made Harry place Luna's story in perspective.

"Luna… this diary… he was using you! He wanted to cleanse the school of muggleborns! Maybe I should destroy this…"

Luna shook her head.

"Oh Harry, can't you see how sick he is? Tell me, does he look like he's capable of using anyone, given the state he's in?"

Harry looked at the unconscious form of Tom Riddle, and had to admit the man looked more pitiable than dangerous, if anything. Luna sat down next to him and put his head in her lap, her hand stroking his humid black tresses.

"I believe that he has some very disturbing thoughts, his aura is very dark… but that's just because he's very ill, Harry. He has been alone for decades! Can you imagine being in solitude that long?"

Harry couldn't, so eventually he just had to agree with Luna's assessment. That didn't clarify the fifty feet of poisonous snake though.

"I do wonder about…" he nodded his head in the direction of the serpent. Luna smiled.

"Oh, you mean her? I didn't understand her name, but she's very nice. She went to look for you after all. She's very worried about Tom as well."

"You… understand her?"

"Bits and pieces. Mostly what she means more than what she says though. I can't hear her words like you do"

Harry didn't even want to begin deciphering that statement.

"Now… what are we going to do about this? With him, I mean."

Luna sighed.

"We can't leave him here, he'll catch a cold. I don't think it's wise to take him with us though… The others might not understand it, and they would probably want to take him away from us. I really think I should stay with him."

"Sssspeaker and Radissssh Girl… Why don't you bring him to the bedchambersssss?"

Harry raised an eyebrow before answering in parseltongue.

"Bedchambersss?"

"Ah yessss, sssspelled to be protected from the water… I'll sssshow you…"

Harry followed the basilisk, which slithered through the Chamber and entered a tunnel. He really hoped it wasn't a trick to eat him out of sight from Luna.

"You're not going to eat me, are you?"

"Tsss-hsss-hsss… You ssssilly Sssspeaker. Why would I eat you? Radisssh Girl likessss you."

Harry didn't think that was a proper explanation, but either way he followed the basilisk that brought him through the tunnel until the point where the tunnel had apparently been locked close. It then hissed something that sounded almost musical, and out of nowhere a door appeared in the closed off wall. Harry carefully opened it and found himself in a regal bedchamber. There was a large four-poster bed with emerald green curtains, a wall covered in bookcases, and a desk with writing utensils. It was surprisingly warm in the room and everything in it had indeed been spared from the leaking water.

"Welcome to my late massster's roomsss… Do you like them, Ssspeaker?"

"These… these are the rooms of Salazar Slytherin?"

"Mossst ssssurely yess. Masssster Tom can use them for now."

"Right… You know, my name is Harry Potter. What are you called?"

"Hekathe… But you can call me Katie, Sssspeaker. I mean, Harry. Tell the Radisssh Girl my name too, sssshe inquired yet didn't underssstand."

"I will."

Harry tried not to think too deep about everything. He feared that if he started to think things through he would either wake up with a start in his own bed, or cause himself a panic attack. The whole event was just too surreal…

X

Luna sat next to Tom's bedside, holding his hand. They had carefully put him there, waiting for the stunning spell to wear off.

"Don't you think we should tell someone? I mean… someone who can actually help?"

Luna nodded pensively.

"Maybe yes."

"Not to mention that we'll have to explain the whole issue to Dumbledore and the other professors eventually. Everyone still thinks Katie had you for lunch."

"Katie would never. She's the sweetest."

"But they don't know that, now do they? And we'll have to tell them something, unless we want to stay here forever."

Luna nodded pensively.

"We tell them the truth."

"What?"

Luna's wide, slightly bulging eyes caught his.

"The truth, Harry. It will do Tom no good if we lie. The headmaster will understand."

Harry didn't understand this girl. She got possessed, brought down to a secret chamber to be killed, and faced with a monster, and instead of doing what any sensible 11-year-old would have done -namely screaming, crying and trying to get away- she had made friends with the monster and appointed herself as nurse for the evil thing that had tried to kill her. He honestly didn't understand her; he only hoped that she was right and the headmaster would.

X

There had been quite a fuss when they returned from the Chamber, and after convincing Madam Pomfrey they really didn't need to stay in the Infirmary the headmaster whisked them away to his office. After completing his usual ritual that consisted of offering them lemon drops and making some vague remarks in that airily tone of his, he finally got to business.

"So children… will you tell me what has happened exactly? Harry?"

"Err… I think Luna can explain it better." Harry uttered, much to the headmaster's surprise. Luna smiled and said dreamily.

"It all happened when I found a Living Book. It's a diary and his name is Tom. I thought it would do him good to have someone to talk to all the time; he was very lonely you see. He had been alone for fifty years!"

"Tom?"

"His full name is Tom Marvolo Riddle."

Luna didn't seem to notice it, but Harry saw that Dumbledore paled visibly when hearing that name...

"I thought he was just lonely, but actually he was very sick and it kept getting worse. His aura was always very dark to begin with, but then it started fluctuating and wavering in other colours too. I thought he had gotten infected with Murgling Booklice, or that the Nargles had tried to steal some of his pages, but that wasn't it."

Both Dumbledore and Harry were watching Luna intently. Harry had heard the story before, but something about the young blonde girl made him want to listen to her every word. Luna's eyes widened a bit when she continued.

"He tried to hide his illness, and he even took me down to the Chamber so I could meet Katie! When I woke up there, he was finally out of the book, and I was so happy at first because I could finally properly meet him… but he was already a lot sicker then and eventually I had to ask Katie to seek help for him. Katie went to find Harry and helped him to get into the Chamber, and there he stupefied Tom and we put him in bed. Katie is guarding him now so that he can't hurt himself."

Dumbledore was speechless, and even that weird twinkle in his eyes seemed a bit confused now.

"Luna dear, do you have that diary with you?"

Luna nodded and showed the headmaster the small black book. With an innocent smile she said.

"He's still connected to the diary. I write sweet things in it to help him calm down."

"You said he wanted to hurt… himself?"

"Oh, he was very inconsistent in the end. At first he wanted to kill me, and then he said Katie had to kill me, and eventually he was trying to make Katie kill him, and when Harry showed up in the Chamber he wanted Harry to kill him… It was really sad. Poor Tom."

"I must say I am curious about this… Katie."

"It's a basilisk."

Dumbledore looked at Harry, and then at Luna.

"And Luna understands her?"

"Just her meanings, not really her words. Harry understands her words though. And Katie is really smart, she understands me as well even though I can't speak her language."

Dumbledore shook his head.

"A basilisk named Katie. Well have I ever."

There was a bit of an uncomfortable silence in the room. Then Harry dared to say.

"Err… Headmaster, what is going to happen now?"

"Well… My children, you must know this. Tom Riddle is the birth name of someone you know as Voldemort."

Harry didn't flinch at the name, but neither did Luna. She just caressed the book and smiled.

"Oh, that explains why his aura is so dark. He just doesn't have enough soul, does he?"

"Huh?"

"I should have seen it, but I thought it was normal for Living Books to have such strange auras. After all, I'd never seen one before."

"My child, no one blames you for what has happened. I am sure that the diary and its occupant can be taken care of. If you would hand it to me?"

Luna shook her head.

"I'm sorry Headmaster. I promised Tom I would care for him, and I can't let you hurt him. He's so hurt already that he doesn't even want what he needs anymore. It would be plain low to misuse his weak state of mind."

X

Tom woke up, not knowing where he was and with a sense of imminent danger surrounding him. He tried to get up, but got extremely dizzy when he lifted his head. Trying to get his thoughts together, Tom tried to recall what had happened. He only got scraps of memory, dreams mixed with fear and… radishes. Even his thoughts betrayed him. Tom wrapped his arms around himself while battling the increasing dizziness, feeling cold although it was quite warm in the mysterious room. He softly whispered to himself, surprised at his croaked voice,

"Where am I?"

He didn't know, and somehow that made him want to cry. He didn't though. Had he gone mad, somehow? It seemed like it. There was a remnant of something in his mind, a reminder of some urgent task he had to complete… What was it? His panicky thoughts were interrupted by a strange hissed tune, and out of nowhere a door appeared into the stone wall. It opened, and a big, slightly (very) menacing snakehead appeared through it.

"Sssso, it ssseeemsss you are awake."

The voice sparked a memory in Tom, a memory of another life almost. He knew this creature.

"H-Hekathe?"

"I prefer Katie thessse daysss… more modern, don't you agree?"

Tom shivered. He didn't know what to answer. He remembered Hekathe the basilisk, but he didn't know from what. It would seem that a huge poisonous serpent is hard to forget, but Tom couldn't recall any details of the circumstances under which they had met. All he knew was that it had to be long ago.

"Where am I?"

"You're sssafe, for now… Radissssh Girl and the other Ssspeaker will care for you. How issss your illnessss?"

"My… ilnesssss?"

The basilisk appeared to breathe in the air and test it.

"I sssmell sssicknesss on you ssstill. Ssstrange hot-blooded creaturesssss you are, humansss… ssssuch trouble controlling your temperature…"

Tom realized he probably had some kind of fever. That would explain things, the memory loss, the dizziness, the shivering and the apparent isolation. He didn't know where he was and how he had gotten there, but perhaps he was contagious or something. He felt awful…

"Ssshall I get the Girl and the other Ssspeaker for you?"

Tom shook his head, a movement that only added to the dizziness. He whispered,

"Pleasssse… ssstay."

He didn't know why he asked that, but the thought of being alone made him want to throw up. As he lay down and closed his eyes again, he felt the snake set down her huge head on the side of the bed. It was a minor comfort, because soon bizarre dreams consumed him again and left him unaware of his surroundings…

X

Dumbledore had listened to the strange things that Luna told him, and eventually he had allowed her to keep the diary, as long as they brought him down to the Chamber so he could meet Tom, and the illustrious Katie. They had agreed, and now they were standing in the dripping wet halls of the Chamber. Katie slithered out of the tunnel, apparently happy to see them.

"Tssss, ssssstrange old man you bring with you… Ssssmellsss funny…"

Harry grinned.

"Katie, meet Headmaster Dumbledore."

He pointed at the headmaster, who graciously took off his yellow and shocking pink hat for her. The man's eyes twinkled more than usual; Harry could even think that he actually enjoyed it all…

"Sssso, will he help Massster? Massster issss getting worssse, he'll need the help. Radisssh Girl needsss to sssee him too. Her wordssss do him good."

Luna looked worried, holding the diary to her chest.

"Is Tom all right?"

"Katie says he's getting worse."

Luna needed no more direction and ran off into the tunnel, followed by Katie. Dumbledore looked as if he wanted to say something, but shook his head. Eventually he said.

"She knows things. I don't know how, but she does. I won't say that it makes me feel comfortable, but something tells me it's okay to trust her judgement on this. Her mother was just like that. Seers blood, I suppose."

Harry nodded slowly, and they followed the girl and basilisk.

"Don't you think this is weird, Headmaster?"

"Oh, certainly my child. But what is life without a little weirdness?"

**(Author's Notes)**

**So... here we have Comprehending!Dumbledore, as opposed to the usual Manipulative!Dumbledore. I just didn't feel like writing too much hidden agendas and cunning subplots into this, if you want Cloak-And-Dagger stuff you should check out my other HP fics. **

**Also, the basilisk is called Katie. Because I can. And because I think she has the character of someone named Katie, in this fic. Hecate (written Hekathe here for artistic liberty) is the greek goddess of Magic, Witchcraft, the Moon, Necromancy and Crossroads. If any name was more suitable, I don't know. (Okay, in canon she had three faces, but I don't want any Fluffy parallels drawn here... damn, I just did. Urgh.)**

**"smelling like sunshine" must be interpreted through the senses of a snake. Snakes are cold-blooded and perceive heat and scents in a different way than we do. Biology class! (or at least the little I remember from that)**

**Also, I know Tom is actually afraid of dying in canon, but take it from the experienced; psychosis can mangle anyone's thoughts to the point were death has a certain appeal.**

**PLEASE REVIEW! **

**I love and cherish my reviewers, they make writing this worthwhile! Also, without comments and critics I can never improve my writing!**


	3. Chapter 3

Tom was curled up in the big bed, and he was having some sort of panic attack. He didn't realize it though, all he felt was the pounding of his heart, the laboured breathing, the feeling as though his head would explode and his chest would burst… Flashes of things went through his mind but it was far from a coherent thought. It was as if his mind had broken apart in a chorus of voices chanting various things at him.

"Weak, _weak_ WEAK!"

"Your purpose, _purpose_ is your only _reason_ of existence…"

"KILL HER!"

"I'm scared."

"_Horcruxes_ don't get scared."

"They don't feel. They are perfect. They are _beyond this_. They are strong."

"What is a _horcrux_…"

"Eradicate…"

"Maybe…"

"Hurts… hurts so bad…"

"Your WEAKNESS is your DOWNFALL!"

"No feelings. Not human."

"_Scared_…"

Tom suddenly felt a touch. A real, human touch. Touching him, not his pages. His pages were him? All but pages?

"Sssh… It's okay… I'm here now… Calm down, nothing can hurt you here…"

The sweet poison… He knew that voice, those treacherously soft, comforting touches. Poisonous they were. They gave him the visions. He had to make it stop. He was stronger than this. He had to!

"STAY AWAY! You will not poison me any longer, YOU WILL NOT!"

He tried to jerk away from the touch, but the voices in his mind had turned into a choir of screeching banshees, and left him clutching his head before everything turned black.

X

Luna calmingly whispered to the convulsing man in the bed, until she felt she broke through the mental barrier that he had somehow put up. As the barrier broke, she felt the true extent of his pain, as if his own mind couldn't contain it anymore and he simply sent it out into the world, to her. She wrapped her arms around him and even though he struggled to get away, screaming at her with wide, panic-stricken eyes, she didn't let go. Eventually she felt how his body abated in her grasp, and she saw how despite that his eyes were still open, staring off into a nightmare only he could see. Luna's heart ached for him.

"Oh Tom…"

With a caring gesture she closed his eyes. He was burning up with fever and his breathing was ragged, and Luna didn't know what she could do about it. She looked at the door opening, where next to Katie Dumbledore and Harry had followed the scene.

"Do you see what I mean now, headmaster?"

Dumbledore nodded.

"Yes, Luna. I do. Do you want him me to bring him to the infirmary…?"

She shook her head.

"No, it would only confuse him more. Besides, here Katie can keep an eye on him. I believe he still recognizes her, sometimes."

"Ah… I see. You do understand you won't be able to be here all the time, you have classes to attend to after all."

"Headmaster, if I may interrupt…" Harry spoke. He looked pale from what he had just seen. "No one will expect Luna to be in class right away, they will simply assume she is in the infirmary after her ordeal. Doesn't that cut her some slack?"

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled.

"A cunning idea, Harry…"

X

And so Luna became Tom's personal caretaker. She had been given instructions by the headmaster, Madam Pomfrey, and even by her head of house, Professor Flitwick. Those last two believed it to be complete madness, letting an eleven-year old care for a sick person while in the neighbourhood of a dangerous basilisk… but nevertheless they helped her, trusting the headmaster in his decision. In the case of Professor Flitwick it was the slightly selfish desire to never have to face that basilisk himself that helped as well. Luna had been equipped with a whole array of potions, and Flitwick had taught her useful spells, among which were some to keep one tied to a bed, knowing that if this person was indeed as ill as described she would need them… And needing them she did.

X

"Stay away, you pathetic girl!"

Luna sent Tom her sweetest smile.

"You know you have to eat something."

"I don't need to eat, you fool. You will unhand me now!"

She shook her head and attempted again to make Tom Riddle eat a spoon of soup. Unsurprisingly, she had no success.

"GO AWAY!"

"No. You need to eat."

"I DO NOT!"

"There's no need to get angry."

Well, it was clear that the patient, who was tied to the bed and could only move his head a bit, didn't share that opinion.

"You have no idea whose wrath you have called out over you."

That made Luna giggle. Tom was so overly dramatic sometimes…

"If you don't eat, I can always make you."

"As if an ickle girl like you can perform the Imperius."

Tome huffed, and immediately wished he hadn't done so. Luna waved her wand, and the magical binds tightened, keeping him completely still. A second spell made the spoon of soup move on its own accord, and before he knew it a third spell forced him to swallow what had been forcefully stuffed in his mouth. He gasped for breath after almost choking on it.

"There is no need for dark magic when Madam Pomfrey has simple spells for force-feeding, you know. Now, will you let me feed you or do I have to repeat this procedure for every bite?"

Tom knew that there was no escape possible, so he nodded angrily. In all honesty, even the Imperius would have been preferable over the force-feeding spell. The rest of the meal passed in silence, but if looks could kill then Luna would have been dead a million times already. She didn't mind though. No matter how mean or vicious Tom tried to stare her down, she always met his gaze with a caring smile. The periods of relative lucidity were the worst of the illness, she thought. They made Tom all cold and seemingly uncaring, and the backlash of such an episode was always painful to his mind.

X

Days passed, and Luna was always by Tom's side, together with Katie, and occasionally Harry who served as a translator. Professor Dumbledore himself came down to the Chamber too at times, to check how Luna was holding up. It seemed that the dreary atmosphere of the Chamber had zero effect on the blonde girl, who loved to treat her visitors to stories about a colony of gurgling plimpies in one of the tubes or about how much the Chamber reminded her of the cave where she and her father had hunted for the Crumple-Horned Snorkack.

Tom's state varied from relatively lucid –and insulting, haughty and sarcastic- to completely delirious and panicking. Luna had a modus operandi for each and every state Tom Riddle managed to get in. She equalled his derision with kindness and never failed to comfort him when the subsequent panic attack wrecked through his body. Quite often she found herself writing in the diary, mostly stories and little poems she remembered from her childhood. They made Tom restless, even while unconscious, but Luna knew with staggering certainty that exactly those things that made Tom upset, angry or sick were the things he needed most. He would have to get worse before he could get better.

X

Most of the time he was scared. His head hurt and he was so confused, and there was always the girl, the sweet poison with her treacherous words. There were moments that he managed to push the fear away, that he managed to push everything away and try to break free from the poisonous hold the girl had on him, but they never lasted very long. His words lacked the poison hers were soaked with.

He had vague memories of a time that a single glare from him could make people cower, strange memories of a time when he was powerful and ruthless, but somehow the girl was immune for that kind of poison. Insults, glares, even his deductions about her fears and wants didn't seem to faze her. He called her weak, he called her pathetic, he accused her of being obsessed and overbearing and a foolish little child, but nothing managed to hit home with her. And then the pain returned, as it always did, the revenge of the Sweet Poison. He couldn't describe it as physical pain, and yet that was the thing his agony was closest to.

It felt like being pulled apart, getting mangled, getting ripped to pieces, all while being rolled up on a ball in the bed. The Sweet Poison had invented the cruciatus curse for his soul, but instead of gloating over her triumph she would hold him and softly whisper to him, her eyes and arms soft and warm. He never gave in, withstood her torment as well as her care until he blacked out. He would never seek comfort in the arms of an enemy, he didn't need comfort, he was strong enough to do without.

This time it was no different, yet somehow the pain was worse this time, and Tom's eyes burned with tears he would never cry. Every time it became worse, harder to withstand. He was once again in the arms of the sweet poison, and this time she held something to his lips, a vial of some sort. Perhaps she would finally end him, poison his body like she had done with his mind… In his pain-addled state, that sounded almost pleasant. Her touches and words would stop and he would finally rest. Obediently, he swallowed the contents of the vial.

The effect was immediate and unexpected. He relaxed completely, and as his mind became foggy the pain faded. It was impossible to fight, and Tom realized he didn't want to fight it. It had been so long since he had felt so… content. Drowsy and miraculously content. Everything became a little vague around the edges, but he didn't lose consciousness. He felt her hand stroke through his hair, and in the last unaffected corner of his mind he realized the potion had completely lowered his defences against her, but then he just lost himself in it. Chemically induced or not, he needed to feel a little happiness.

X

Luna knew the potion had worked quickly when she saw how Tom's eyes widened in surprise, and how then his pained expression faded into a somewhat drowsy smile. She didn't like to use the potion, but it was the only thing that broke through his panic attacks and the last one had been particularly vicious. He needed to get worse to get better, but she didn't want him to be in pain needlessly. Tom looked at her with wide eyes, pupils diluted from the medication. His voice sounded airy when he spoke.

"Sweet poison, what have you done to me…"

She let her fingers run through his hair.

"How are you feeling, Tom?"

"Strange… but it's okay, I like strange…"

She smiled at his happy expression. He was completely drugged, probably had no idea what he was saying... She still hoped it would give his mind a bit of rest.

"If you're tired you can always just close your eyes and sleep, you know. I keep the Nargles away for you."

"Why do you do it? Make me sick with words? I don't understand…"

His voice was almost childlike now, and Luna's heart broke at the innocent look in his eyes.

"Sometimes an invisible illness needs a bitter medicine, Tom."

"But I don't understand. It makes me sick."

"I know. But the sickness will make you better. Now close your eyes, you are tired."

Obediently, Tom closed his eyes, and Luna moved to put him in a better position in the bed. He opened his eyes again when she moved away, looking almost desperate.

"Please don't leave me."

"I won't. Sssh, I won't."

She held his hand and that seemed to soothe him, because just a moment later Luna knew he was fast asleep. For the first time since it had all started he slept completely peaceful, a soft smile on his lips as if his mind was in a happy place. Luna bent over him and pressed a kiss on his forehead.

"Sweet dreams, Tom."

X

Days became weeks, and Luna began to see a little progress. There were fewer High-And-Mighty moments in Tom's demeanour, and feeding him became less of a struggle. The panic attacks and mental pain didn't subside though, and Luna refused to drug him every time they struck. He needed to get through them by himself. What little progress she made got annihilated though by the way Tom's strength dwindled.

"How much longer, sweet poison?"

His voice sounded old and tired. Luna looked in his eyes and saw he was lucid, at least somewhat.

"My name is Luna, don't you remember?"

"I name you for what you are… sweet poison."

The remark made Luna smile, but only a bit.

"As you wish, Tom."

"I'm tired."

It was a sigh, barely audible, but Luna had heard it. Tired.

"Don't give up, Tom. Please."

"I'm tired, sweet poison, tired of the pain. I don't understand you, and I am tired of not understanding. You torture me yet gain no pleasure from it, you show your weaknesses in front of me and still you are invulnerable to me. I don't understand and I'm tired. Let me sleep. You have had your game with me."

Luna cocked her head to the side a bit.

"Tom, you don't understand because you fight it. You fight what you need and that makes you sick."

"I don't play your games anymore, sweet poison. Leave me."

"I would let you win if you would allow me."

Tom didn't answer her. He had closed his eyes and let the pain take over. She would never release him, and he would suffer. But he would suffer in silence, in honour of that what he once was before she had poisoned his mind.

X

There's a limit to how much suffering in silence one can take, and at four weeks since the start of it all, Tom broke. At first it wasn't so apparent, it seemed a panic attack like all the others, but when Luna caught his eyes, hazy with tears, she knew it was the worst one yet. His voice was pleading, broken and raw when he cried.

"Please. Please make it stop."

He had never pleaded to her like that before, not since that one time when he had begged Harry to destroy the diary. His body shook and trembled in Luna's arms. No matter how much it hurt her, she knew she couldn't sedate him now. This was the moment she had been waiting for.

"Let me understand, Tom. Let me see it."

Blue eyes locked with silvery ones, and Luna saw. She saw everything, everything that was the mind and soul of Tom Marvolo Riddle. She felt the sting of the belt on her back for unjustified punishments, she heard the snide remarks of both adults and children, she felt the disappointment and growing anger with every couple of parents that rejected him. Going to Hogwarts, the prejudices, the feeling of being worthless because of worn clothes and muggle history, discovering his heritage, the ever-growing hatred towards anyone who dared to cross him… nothing escaped her, she saw all his history at once. Eventually, there was Katie, the murder, and then, the pain. It was the worst thing she had ever felt, and Luna had to force herself to endure it, to stay in Tom's mind and experience every soul-mangling, gut-wrenching moment of it. And then, it was over.

X

Every little bit of embarrassing, painful history she saw. He couldn't hide anything; he couldn't put up mental shields or keep her out his private matters. She saw everything, her bulging blue eyes piercing through his skull right into the centre of his mind. And with every thing she saw, Tom relived it, all up to the indescribable pain he had felt at the moment he had been created in his current form. When he came back to himself he found her eyes were still locked with his, and she gave him a soft smile, a smile that reached right into the raw innards of his mind.

"It's okay now, Tom. I understand."

And he felt it. All his shields were down and she still had unlimited access to his mind, unlimited possibility to torment him if she wanted to… and she didn't. Instead, Tom felt how she filled his mind with something unknown, something warm and comprehending and so utterly comforting he wanted to crawl into it and cry at the same time because he had never felt anything like it. He hadn't known. It was as if he had been in a desert for so long that he had forgotten how thirsty he was, that he hadn't simply forgotten how water tasted or what it looked like, but that it even existed.

Luna held him, and he cried. The turmoil of emotion was too confusing to even describe, and for the first time in his life he cried and didn't try to hide or stop it.

"Ssssh…"

Although she had retreated from his mind he felt her still. She whispered soothingly in his ear and stroked his hair while holding him in her arms. When the tears finally stopped coming, Tom had never felt so absolutely safe. Safe and loved. With that admission, a load he didn't knew he carried fell of him. He was loved, and it was the most incredible thing he had ever felt. If her words had been a cruciatus for his soul, they now were a complete opposite. Tom leaned against her and let himself drift off in bliss. The strange scent of his sweet poison filled his nose and mind, and made him smile. Sunshine and Radishes, the snake was right. When that last thought faded from his mind, he finally got the rest he had longed for so badly.

**(Author's Notes)**

**So this was my favorite part to write. Sincerely. In case you hadn't noticed it in my other writings, I have a penchant for making my characters sick and then letting others nurse them back to health. **

**Also, I know Luna is 11 and Tom is 16, but love can come in all shapes and sizes, and I'm not talking about sex here. So I suppose it's okay. **

**So, Tom gets drugged and force-fed. Force-feeding is not fun, I've seen it happen and it's terrible, although... it does look funny. *evil giggle* And Tom on drugs is rather cute, no?**

**PLEASE REVIEW!**

**I love reviews. I love them more than... than Pizza! I love them more than Lucius loves combing his hair! Please grant me your words, I'll be forever grateful... **


	4. Chapter 4

Luna cried as well, but it were tears of happiness. She had felt all his pain and seen all his struggles, and she had been successful. He knew now, he had felt how much she loved him, unconditionally and lavishly. The change was remarkable; it was as if all the pain had disappeared from his body, much like when she gave him the potion but more significant. The pain wasn't just masked; it was gone, completely gone.

He rested against her, his lips folded in a dreamy smile, and she saw how his eyes became hazy and fell shut. His breathing and heartbeat slowed and became barely audible, but it didn't disconcert Luna. She knew he would have to rest, rest and heal, and his magic was doing exactly that. She held him until he was completely gone, succumbed into a magical coma, and then she called for the basilisk.

"Katie?"

The serpent, who had slipped her head out of the door to give them privacy but never left the vicinity of the room, immediately answered with a questioning hiss.

"Please warn Harry and the headmaster. Tell them I think we've made it."

X

Dumbledore confirmed what Luna had thought already, namely that Tom had slipped into a deep magical coma, from which he would wake when his magic thought he was ready. Given the extensive damage to his mind and soul, that would probably take a while. They properly put him in bed, and placed protective spells around it so that no one would disturb him. Katie appointed herself as his guard.

"I will protect masssster while he issss hibernating, Ssspeaker. Tell Radissssh Girl not to worry. But do tell her to visssit usss often, it getsss lonely down here."

And so Harry did. Time passed, weeks became months, and months became years, and still Luna would go down into the Chamber every evening, to talk to Katie and write into the diary about her day, hoping that perhaps some of it would reach Tom in the faraway place his mind was. On New Year's Eve, three years later, a 14-year-old Luna sat next to Tom's bed with the diary on her lap while she scratched Katie's scales, making the basilisk hiss in delight. It was that moment Tom finally woke up from his coma, and that was the first thing he saw. A blonde girl in dress robes playing with a basilisk. When she turned towards him, her eyes widened and she smiled widely.

"Tom! You're awake!"

His memories were vague still, but he remembered nevertheless. He didn't remember how she had looked exactly but it was her, his sweet poison. All the things that made her the girl he had known were there. Her eyes, her smile, her blonde hair and her words, her sweet, poisonous words…

"Happy birthday, Tom…"

It was his birthday? 31st of December, New Year's Eve. How long had it been? He felt weak, but not tired.

"How long…"

"Three years, but that's not important. Katie and I have guarded you. I knew you would wake up again."

Tom wanted to say something, but when Luna wrapped her arms around him he forgot what it was. His limbs were heavy and stiff from disuse, yet he still answered her embrace, resting his head against her. He had missed her, even though he had been physically and mentally incapable of missing anything while in the coma. Now he could feel her again, smell her and hear her voice, he felt more whole than he ever had before. He couldn't quite name the feeling, but something inside him never wanted to let go of the girl, hold her close to him forever as if he would fall apart without her presence.

"I love you, Tom Marvolo Riddle."

The whispered admission made him stiffen at first, old habits die hard, but then he looked at her and pressed a chaste kiss on her lips, hoping that he could express somehow the gratitude and love he felt but didn't manage to speak out yet.

"I think this is the best birthday I've ever had."

With that he had said exactly what Luna wanted to hear. She didn't need long, poetic declarations of something she could feel and see in every little thing he did and said. She knew, after all, a lot of things. And at long last, all was good.

X

The students didn't ask about the unknown exchange student that roamed the halls and suddenly started following their classes. They gossiped, but no one really knew who he was, and no one dared to ask. Something about the new student was so dark and uncomfortable that no one had even dared to ask his name, and if the jitteriness of the professors around him was anything to go by, that was for good reason. They knew he was a sixth year, that his scores were absolutely incredible, that he had been sorted into Slytherin but didn't sleep in the dorms, and that he seemed only social with one young fourth year, Luna Lovegood.

He was always polite to his fellow students when he met them in the halls or got paired up with them in class, but no one had the courage to even attempt making friends with him. He didn't seem to mind. Some said they didn't think he could smile, but those who had seen it knew that to be a lie; when he was with the Lovegood girl he smiled, a smile that was meant for her and only her, a smile that would make any girl jealous, that could make you feel like you were the only thing that mattered in the whole world when it was meant for you.

The new student was a mystery, and a fascinating one at that, but soon the war neurosis sucked up people's attention, and no one really cared who the unaligned, unknown boy was. He never picked sides so no side picked on him, and eventually they all apparently forgot his existence. All but Luna Lovegood, the only person he ever smiled at.

X

The world wasn't a kind or happy place during the Second War, and quite often Luna had to comfort Tom. She knew him, through and through; she knew his character, the slyness of his often-manipulative ways, his play with masks and facades, his fascination with the dark arts. It didn't worry her though. The hate and contempt he had felt for the world and its inhabitants, the desire to be greater and better than everyone else, the fear of death… that was all gone, burned away in the many times he had relived the ripping of his soul, faded with the insight Luna had granted him when she in turn had opened her mind to him.

The visions of Voldemort's actions that Tom sometimes experienced were the worst. It wasn't what he saw that hurt him so badly, he was still quite un-empathic when it came to other people's suffering. It was the knowledge that there was another one like him out there, who had never met a soul as kind and knowing as Luna Lovegood, who had never come to understanding. In a bizarre way he could relate to the man whose name no one dared to speak, after all they were basically parts of the same soul. Through that connection he felt a sliver of familiar pain, every time the atrocities this Voldemort committed played before his mental eye.

X

Luna and Tom's relationship was unusual. They rarely kissed, and only chastely, softly letting their lips meet for a moment when no one could see them. They often slept in the same bed, more often as the war progressed, but they never had sex. Yet when they touched, their minds touched as well, and when their eyes met they could see into each other's soul. They had no need for the rest. Not yet, anyway.

The day came that battle broke out in Hogwarts, and Tom knew because when Luna came down to the Chamber her mind was closed to him and the blue of her eyes was hard like steel. She ordered Katie to keep him in the Chamber and left to fight. No matter how he pleaded the basilisk refused to let him go. When the visions came he understood why. Through the eyes of his counterpart he saw flashes of the fight, he saw people die on both sides, he felt the agonizing pain of a mangled soul, and he saw Luna. His sweet poison. He saw her kill and maim, eyes devoid of the happy light he loved so much. It broke his heart to see her like that, risking her life, losing her innocence, and it didn't take long before he was a sobbing mess, wrapped in Katie's coils while she tried to comfort him in parseltongue. When Luna returned to the Chamber he was asleep, head leaning against Katie. The basilisk carefully allowed her to come closer, and with a soft touch to his face Luna woke him up. He stared at her, trying to comprehend what he saw. Her blonde curls were in tangles, her robes ripped and splattered with blood, but her lips still formed that smile, her eyes still shone with that light he knew and loved. It was different now though. No longer innocent. Tainted.

"Luna…"

She kissed him, and he answered her kiss with equal hunger, desperate to taste her, feel that she was still there. That night was the first night they made love. They made love like war, fought and wrestled with each other to get it out of their system with a passion neither had realized they could muster. They needed it, it was the tension that wouldn't go away with tears and talks that had to come out now before it could start to fester inside.

Afterwards they lay together, completely calm, minds hazy and the war temporarily out of their thoughts. They were both on the edge passing out from exhaustion, totally spent. And Tom knew he could say it now, that he had to say it now, because if she would ever die without him having told her he would never forgive himself.

"I love you."

Luna just smiled and kissed him.

X

Some students recognized him as the mysterious exchange student, but they were few; for most the new taciturn potions professor was completely new. The war had left countless casualties, and the world was still in shock, still trying to wrap its collective mind around what had happened. People were urging for change, wanting to prevent the horrors of the war from ever repeating themselves. Professor Riddle kept himself out of it. He didn't do politics, which was a welcome change for the Slytherin house of which he was the head. The students whispered that he did do the new Divination professor. Of course he never commented on that.

The new Divination professor was all but an unknown. She had fought in the final battle, and the rumours about her came in all colours and shapes, going from her defeating a basilisk as a child to her being the daughter of one of the Fates. Perhaps she was, Professor Lovegood herself didn't remember her mother too well, so it wasn't entirely impossible. She had the Eye, some said. Sceptics said she had only eye for the new Potions Master. Of course she never commented on that.

X

Sometimes rumours are true, sometimes they are not. Fact is, one day the students found on their magical schedules that they had Professor Riddle for both Potions and Divination. They were left to think their own of it.

**(Author's Notes)**

**THE END! I just loved writing this story... I hope you loved reading it at least as much!**

**Now, a little explanation of the situation... This is obviously AU so chronology may not be entirely correct, screw that. **

**I think in the three years Tom was unconscious his soul sort of healed itself, and... well, it was simply a good plot point to cross the years that separated Tom and Luna concerning age of consent. Duh. I find it funny that no one dares to ask his name, irony and stuff, you know. **

**So, I tried to make it seem as if the base of Tom's character hasn't changed too much. I like to think of Tom as pretty ruthless and dark no matter what, after all. Only now he has the ability to love and understand emotions better, and through the war he's acquired a bit of a distaste for politics. **

**Also, I know Tom wanted to be a DADA teacher in canon, but I think he would make an excellent potion's professor too. The dungeons need a new grumpy, black-clad, taciturn man to roam them, after all. Luna is just perfect to be Divination teacher. Again, canon-wise that would be Care of Magical Creatures or something like it, but since I portrayed Luna here as "knowing" and "seer-ish" she may just have the famed Inner Eye that Trelawney liked to fuss about. **

**So this story has come to an end. PLEASE REVIEW! I want to know your opinions! Also, reviews with questions never go unanswered, and I love all your critics for they make my writing better. Give this story a last salute!**

**(PS: if there are people asking for it, I might just write an epilogue. I'm eager like that.)**


End file.
